Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven replaced two ministers on Thursday in a scandal over the leaking of sensitive data, trying to contain the damage and stave off an early election.
Faced with a political crisis over a botched IT outsourcing deal, Lofven sacrificed his interior and infrastructure ministers rather than step down or call a snap vote more than a year ahead of schedule.
But he retained Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist, defying opposition parties who had pressed for the removal of all three ministers.
The opposition parties said in a statement they would press ahead with a motion of no confidence in Hultqvist. If they win that vote, Lofven will have to remove him, which would leave the premier seriously weakened.
Although he insisted that he would not step down, Lofven finds himself struggling to preserve his minority left-green government in a fragmented political landscape where the far-right, anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats hold the balance of power.
However, he won some breathing space when the four-party opposition Alliance bloc said it would seek the confidence vote only after the summer break. Parliament is due to resume official business in September.
Referring to the threatened vote, Lofven told daily Dagens Nyheter: “We will handle that situation as well. I’m the country’s prime minister and will handle that too.”
Opposition Moderate Party leader Anna Kinberg Batra said on Twitter: “Welcome decision from Stefan Lofven that two ministers leave after the security crisis. But the reason for suspicion against Peter Hultqvist remains.”
Lofven and his allies control 159 seats in parliament, while the Alliance holds 140 and the Sweden Democrats 47. Other parties refuse to work with them, but no one is capable of forming a majority without them.
